MarketingShift Online Marketing Blog

Friday, March 06, 2009

Linkedin's Financial Advantage over Facebook, Twitter & Myspace

Few companies can boast record economic growth during the past six months, but Linkedin just came off its most successful quarter and the professional social network site claims over 36 million users in over 200 countries and territories, with a new user joining every second.

Linkedin still has a way to go before it reaches Facebook-like numbers of 175 million , but as Evan Williams and Mark Zuckerberg scramble for monetization solutions, Linkedin is generating revenue.

How did Linkedin find a path to profit before the social network kings? Credit the foresight of CEO Reid Hoffman, who was a senior executive at Paypal before it was sold to eBay,

When you want to influence the structure for millions and millions of people, you actually need to have a strong economic model that scales. If you can create structures where the interests of millions of align with the group's interest, then you can actually create things that generate a lot of value in the system.

Linkeden's revenue model is three-pronged:

Upgraded Acccounts: Business, Business Plus and Pro Accounts provide extra features, including thorough lists of who's searched for you and your company.

Hiring services.

Advertising comparable to the Wall Street Journal Demographic

Social networks and job search engines like careerbuilder can't match the valuable service offered by Linkedin, because it provides both of those services, along with a free resume profile.

With layoffs mounting nationwide, every professional is exploring new ideas to improve their resume and protect their future. The average job length is two-to-four years, which has redefined the role of the American worker. Earlier this week, he told Charlie Rose that modern businessman has become the entrepreneur, whether they recognize it or not.

In the terms of the business of themselves and how they drive that. So it's how they get their next job opportunity, how they get a promotion. All of that comes from how they manage the network around them.

As for the future of Linkedin, Hoffman believes the public is just starting to discover the value of self-empowering sites, tools and resources.

We’re just beginning to explore how effective finding of information and communication and distribution of information makes you a lot more effective.

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